certyaml

certyaml

Declarative way to create x509 certificates for test environments. No more storing test certificates and private keys in the repository!

Description

Certyaml is a command line tool and a Go API for issuing certificates. It is similar to openssl or cfssl which can also be used for issuing certificates, but certyaml provides simpler way to define complete PKI hierarchies with a compact YAML syntax or directly from Go code with a simple API.

Certyaml is targeted for developers who need to set up a private PKI for test environments. It cannot be used for production environments where publicly trusted certificates are needed.

If you program in Java, there is similar project with Java API called certy.

Using certyaml

Usage: certyaml [-d destination] [certs.yaml]

Creates certificates and keys according to manifest file in YAML format.
By default it reads `certs.yaml` as a manifest file and creates files
in current directory.

  -d string
        Short for --destination
  -destination string
        Destination directory where to create the certificates and keys

Installing

Release builds

Release builds are available for download in releases page.

Compiling from source code

Go compiler is required to build certyaml binary

go install github.com/tsaarni/certyaml/cmd/certyaml@latest

The executable will be stored in the go path, by default ~/go/bin/certyaml.

Using certyaml

Create a YAML manifest file which describes the wanted PKI hierarchy and end-entity certificates

$ cat >certs.yaml <<EOF
subject: cn=server-root-ca
---
subject: cn=intermediate-ca
issuer: cn=server-root-ca
ca: true
---
subject: cn=myserver
issuer: cn=intermediate-ca
sans:
- DNS:myserver.example.com
- DNS:foo
---
subject: cn=selfsigned-server
ca: false
key_usages:
- KeyEncipherment
- DigitalSignature
---
subject: cn=fixedtime
issuer: cn=intermediate-ca
not_before: 2020-01-01T09:00:00Z
not_after: 2020-02-01T10:10:10Z
---
subject: cn=shortlived
issuer: cn=intermediate-ca
expires: 1m
---
subject: cn=client-root-ca
---
subject: CN=John Doe,OU=People,O=Company
filename: clientcert
issuer: cn=client-root-ca
EOF

Generate the certificates

$ certyaml
Loading manifest: certs.yaml
Reading state: certs.state
Writing: server-root-ca.pem server-root-ca-key.pem
Writing: intermediate-ca.pem intermediate-ca-key.pem
Writing: myserver.pem myserver-key.pem
Writing: selfsigned-server.pem selfsigned-server-key.pem
Writing: fixedtime.pem fixedtime-key.pem
Writing: shortlived.pem shortlived-key.pem
Writing: client-root-ca.pem client-root-ca-key.pem
Writing: clientcert.pem clientcert-key.pem
Writing state: certs.state

$ ls -l
total 72
-rw-r--r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni  483 Jun 15 17:08 certs.state
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni  588 Jun 15 17:07 certs.yaml
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1679 Jun 15 17:08 clientcert-key.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1062 Jun 15 17:08 clientcert.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1679 Jun 15 17:08 client-root-ca-key.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1046 Jun 15 17:08 client-root-ca.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1675 Jun 15 17:08 fixedtime-key.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1017 Jun 15 17:08 fixedtime.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1679 Jun 15 17:08 intermediate-ca-key.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1046 Jun 15 17:08 intermediate-ca.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1679 Jun 15 17:08 myserver-key.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1066 Jun 15 17:08 myserver.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1675 Jun 15 17:08 selfsigned-server-key.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1029 Jun 15 17:08 selfsigned-server.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1675 Jun 15 17:08 server-root-ca-key.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1046 Jun 15 17:08 server-root-ca.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1675 Jun 15 17:08 shortlived-key.pem
-rw-rw-r-- 1 tsaarni tsaarni 1017 Jun 15 17:08 shortlived.pem

You can change parameters of the certificates in the YAML manifest or remove generated certificate files from the filesystem and then run certyaml again. Only changed or missing certificates will be regenerated.

$ rm myserver*
$ certyaml
Loading manifest: certs.yaml
Reading state: certs.state
No changes in manifest: skipping server-root-ca
No changes in manifest: skipping intermediate-ca
Writing: myserver.pem myserver-key.pem
No changes in manifest: skipping selfsigned-server
No changes in manifest: skipping fixedtime
No changes in manifest: skipping shortlived
No changes in manifest: skipping client-root-ca
No changes in manifest: skipping clientcert
Writing state: certs.state

YAML syntax

Go API

For using certyaml in Go applications, see API documentation.

For examples on how to use the API use, see examples/go-api and certificate_test.go.